U.S. Planes Defy Libyan Claims

American warplanes flew near Moammar Kadafi’s “line of death” over waters claimed by Libya today amid reports that the United States wants to lure Kadafi into a fight, but Secretary of State George P. Shultz said the maneuvers were not provocative.

President Reagan’s national security adviser, John Poindexter, suggested that the stepped-up naval activity in the Mediterranean--involving the carriers Saratoga, Coral Sea and America--is part of “a regular schedule prepared for challenges” to territorial claims that the United States considers illegal. Shultz, questioned about the maneuvers on the the CBS “Morning News,” said: “It is a matter of relative routine. . . . We’re not there in a provocative way.”